Local Artist Shawnacy Kiker Perez
Shawnacy is a poet, fiction writer and mother; teaching English, Spanish and Creative Writing at Cornell College, Kirkwood Community College, and the University of Iowa’s International Writers House.
Class 3 of 6, Prompts 4 - 7
Continue your Art Journaling exploration with Shawnacy as your guide. This week students are prompted to; look at inverted color patterns and negative space, focus on a single color, contemplate the definition of a word, and create a black out poem. If you haven't seen Prompts 1-3 visit Intro to Art Journaling Class 2 Prompts.
Prompt 4 - Negative Space
Materials:
- Pencil
- Paint - Shawnacy uses black here
- Paint brushes
- Ink or paint
- Sharpie or paint pen
- Water container
- Stencil for tracing your shape - Shawnacy uses a circle
- Poem or other writing you want to use, your own or someone else’s.
Directions:
You can use the circle shape that Shawnacy uses here, or you can use another shape of your choosing, You will use that shape to create a stencil. You could trace around a star shaped cookie cutter, or hand draw a star shape on a piece of paper and cut it out. Place that shape on each of the pages of your book and trace around it in pencil. On one side of the page, place the stencil on top of where you have drawn it. Holding the stencil down and brushing away from the center of the shape, paint your page with black (or other color) paint. Using your poem or writing excerpt, maybe a saying you like, using pencil, write some of those words inside your stencil shape on the painted side of your two pages. Use block or bubble letters inside the stencil shape on the opposite side of the page. To help with your spacing, line up the center letters in the word in the center of your stencil, and pencil those in first, woking from the center to the edges. On the painted page, Go over your letters with ink or paint. On the unpainted page, outline your stenciled shape and the bubble letters using a sharpie or paint pen being careful to leave the center of the letters open, showing the page underneath. Once they are outlined, you will finish painting in the inside of that stencil shape.
Click on the title of the prompt to go to the lesson on YouTube
Prompt 5 - Single Color
Materials:
- Paint - several shades of one color
- Paint brushes
- Water container
- Texture tool, or mark making tools like sponges, cardboard tubes, etc.
Directions:
Choose a single color to explore, maybe a color you like to wear. Instead of the white base color used in the Intro to Art Journaling Class 1 use a shade of the color you willl explore for this prompt. Start with a watered down base color. Think about what that color expresses, or how it makes you feel. Contemplate how you relate to color and design in fashion, in art or in your home. Use your marking tools to add texture to the page using other shades of that color. Have fun playing with that color as you think about how it makes you feel. After your page is dry, write down your thoughts about this color!
- How is it used in language, is it associated with a certain emotional state? Does that influence how you relate to this color?
- Do you have a signature color?
- How do you differentiate between what you really like and what is popular? Does other people's opinions influence you? Whose?
- As you think about these questions write about what this color represents for you.
Materials:
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Water container
- Pens - sharpie or paint pen
- Optional
- Images
- small blank sketchbook
Directions:
Create a page in the journal you are working on in the prior prompts or you can start with a blank sketchbook that you have made from following the directions in one of our other videos: Binding a Simple Sketchbook. Using smaller paper can make your project easier to complete in a short amount of time. With this blank book you can create your own Language Lexicon; a dictionary of your own devise. Add words you are curious about. Your dictionary may be a collection of words that are inspired by the previous prompts. They could be words you are learning in a foreign language; a way to remember the meaning of those words.
Prompt 7 - Black Out Words
Materials:
- Pencil
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Water container
- Sharpie or other pen(s)
Directions:
This is a way to create a blackout poem or found poem using the words you find on a page. Circle the words you have chosen to keep as part of your poem in pencil (or draw a box around them) to remind you NOT to cover those words up. You can use a scrap paper to list the words you have selected, and then go back and find additional words or filler words as your poem starts to become clear. Be playful with language, things don’t have to makes literal sense, they could be totally random and that is part of their charm. Once you have all the words circled on the page, mark everything else out by covering it with paint, Sharpie, or drawing lines through the words you don’t want, etc. Experiment and have fun!
Additional art journaling classes and prompts can be found here:
Share your work and stay connected!
We are curious to see your project! Upload photos in the comment section below. If you have trouble, or want to share a short video, email us at info@eiaaprogram.org. Leave your school name in the comment box and we will share images with your school!
We want to stay connected to our creative students when we get back to the new normal. While you are here, learn more about the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy. While we don't have much taking place in real space/time during the pandemic, we will get back to our regular live and in-person classes. When we do, we'd love to have you as a member!
